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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒10‒18
39 papers chosen by |
| By: | Anderson, John; Young, Robert; Davis, Todd |
| Keywords: | Farm Bill, Crop Insurance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156845&r=agr |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge and Information Systems Agriculture and Farming Systems Agriculture - Climate Change and Agriculture Crops and Crop Management Systems Economic Theory and Research Rural Development Macroeconomics and Economic Growth |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:16037&r=agr |
| By: | Robinson, James; Marlow, Scott; Madeley, Michelle |
| Abstract: | This paper was submitted to AAEA's 2013 Crop Insurance and the Farm Bill Symposium. |
| Keywords: | Crop Insurance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156824&r=agr |
| By: | Walters, Cory G.; Preston, Richard |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156821&r=agr |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge and Information Systems Social Protections and Labor - Labor Policies Food and Beverage Industry Agriculture - Climate Change and Agriculture Crops and Crop Management Systems Rural Development Industry |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:15990&r=agr |
| By: | ODonoghue, Erik J. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:157282&r=agr |
| By: | Lubben, Bradley; Stockton, Matthew; Protopop, Iuliia; Jansen, Jim |
| Abstract: | Recent changes in federal farm programs and contemporary farm program proposals highlight an evolving shift in farm policy from income support to risk management. A mix of price- and revenue-based commodity programs as well as yield- and revenue-based insurance products provide crop producers a complex portfolio of risk management tools and choices. To make effective risk management decisions, crop producers must integrate farm programs and crop insurance alternatives in a comprehensive risk management decision-making framework. This work assesses the risk management performance and complementarity or substitutability of farm program and crop insurance options. A novel representative farm model for Nebraska is used that incorporates national, state, district, county, and farm-level yield variables along with national and state-level price variables to accurately assess multiple farm program and crop insurance alternatives. The four-stage simulation model simultaneously estimates all necessary yield and price variables in a statistically-distributed and correlated framework. This allows for a consistent and complete analysis of alternative farm program and crop insurance choices and designs. The simulation produces crop revenue, farm program, and crop insurance results for eight representative farms indicative of the crop mix and productivity levels in each of the eight agricultural statistics districts in Nebraska. The results demonstrate the risk management performance of alternative farm program and crop insurance choices for the eight representative farms in Nebraska. The analysis demonstrates the complementarity of farm programs with some crop insurance products and protection levels while showing potential substitutability or overlap with other products and protection levels. The results provide insight for more effective policy design, farm program participation, and farm-level risk management decision-making. |
| Keywords: | farm bill, farm programs, crop insurance, risk management, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:157827&r=agr |
| By: | O'Connor, Claire |
| Abstract: | Although significant research has been done on managing farmers’ financial risk through federal programs such as federal crop insurance, to date, little attention has been paid to the ability of on-farm management’s potential to mitigate agricultural risk. Federal crop insurance could empower farmers to use their farm management skills to become more resilient to extreme weather conditions. This paper proposes a federal crop insurance pilot program that reduces premium rates for farmers who lower their risk of crop loss by investing in technically sound management practices that both reduce the risk of loss in the near-term and build soil health and increase productive capacity in the long-term. For example, soil moisture management practices, such as conservation tillage, cover cropping, and improved irrigation scheduling, reduce weather-related risks, such as droughts and floods. In the short-term, encouraging practices that increase soil moisture and water infiltration, as well as combat pest pressures, will help decrease yield fluctuation due to unfavorable weather in a given year. In the long-term, farmers who invest in soil health will increase their fields’ yield potential and be better prepared to face the challenge of a changing climate, in which extreme weather events are predicted to be more frequent and intense. Because these practices reduce the risk of crop loss, federal crop insurance can and should encourage them through an actuarially sound premium reduction pilot program. |
| Keywords: | crop insurance, no-till, cover crop, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156789&r=agr |
| By: | Dolginow, Joseph; Massey, Raymond; Myers, Brent; Kitchen, Newell |
| Abstract: | The United States federal government currently subsidizes crop insurance to provide a safety-net to insured farmers. Agricultural economists have debated indirect impacts of the subsidized crop insurance program on producer behavior. One of those debates surrounds the issue of extensiveness, or if crop insurance encourages the production of certain crops for which insurance is more readily available. The federal government is also fostering an emerging cellulosic bioenergy industry with subsidies for planting perennial grass crops like switchgrass and miscanthus. This article analyzes how the current method for calculating actual production history (APH) may deter producers from planting perennial grasses and penalizes those producers who convert some of their row crop land to perennial grasses. An alternative APH calculation method suggested here would continue to provide a safety-net to producers, reduce indemnity payments by insurance companies, and reduce an impediment to planting perennial grasses. The conclusions are based on a utility-maximizing stochastic budgeting model with actual grain yields and FAPRI baseline prices for a representative farm in northeastern Missouri. |
| Keywords: | Crop Insurance, Bioenergy, Perennial Grasses, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D81, Q16, Q18, C15, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156945&r=agr |
| By: | Wolf, Christopher; Bozic, Marin; Newton, John; Thraen, Cameron |
| Keywords: | dairy policy, hedging, margin protection, risk management, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156713&r=agr |
| By: | Mengistu Assefa Wendimu (Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS); Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | Rising oil prices, concerns about climate change, and future energy supplies have contributed to growing interest in the use of liquid biofuels in the transport sector which, in turn, has driven large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries for biofuel feedstock production, mainly jatropha. The increasing trend of land acquisition for biofuels has led to the widespread debate about food versus biofuel because of the perceived competition for land and water. To avoid the food versus fuel debate, the use of “marginal” land for biofuel feedstock production (jatropha) has emerged as a dominant narrative. But both the availability and suitability of “marginal” land for commercial level jatropha production is not well understood/examined, especially in Africa. Using a case study of large-scale jatropha plantation in Ethiopia, this paper examines the process of land identification for jatropha investments, and the agronomic performance of large-scale jatropha plantation on so-called marginal land. Although it has been argued that jatropha can be grown well on marginal land without irrigation, and thus does not compete for land and water or displace food production from agricultural land, this study indicates that moisture stress is the key factor in the failure of many large-scale jatropha plantations in Ethiopia. |
| Keywords: | biofuels; jatropha; marginal land; large-scale; Ethiopia |
| JEL: | Q15 Q16 Q42 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2013_17&r=agr |
| By: | Wood, Benjamin; Nelson, Carl; Kilic, Talip; Murray, Siobhan |
| Abstract: | Diversification into high-value cash crops among smallholders has been propagated as a strategy to improve welfare in rural areas. However, the extent to which cash crop production spurs projected gains remains an under-researched question, especially in the context of market imperfections leading to non-separable production and consumption decisions, and price shocks to staple crops that might be displaced on the farm by cash crops. This study is a contribution to the long-standing debate on the links between commercialization and nutrition. It uses nationally-representative household surveydata from Malawi, and estimates the effect of household adoption of an export crop, namely tobacco, on child height-for-age z-scores. Given the endogenous nature of household tobacco adoption, the analysis relies on instrumental variable regressions, and isolates the causal effect by comparing impact estimates informed by two unique samples of children that differ in their exposure to an exogenous domestic staple food price shock during the early child development window (from conception through two years of age). The analysis finds that household tobacco production in the year of or the year after child birth, combined with exposure to an exogenous domestic staple food price shock, lowers the child height-for-age z-score by 1.27, implying a 70-percent drop in z-score. The negative effect is, however, not statistically significant among children who were not exposed to the same shock. The results put emphasis on the food insecurity and malnutrition risks materializing at times of high food prices, which might have disproportionately adverse effects on uninsured cash crop producers. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Food&Beverage Industry,Rural Poverty Reduction,Regional Economic Development |
| Date: | 2013–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6650&r=agr |
| By: | Campiche, Jody |
| Abstract: | Both the House and Senate farm bills include changes to Title I commodity programs and crop insurance programs, including a new shallow loss revenue protection program, a price protection program, and two supplemental crop insurance programs. A key change in the new farm bill is that the Title I shallow loss revenue protection and price protection programs would not be available to cotton producers. Instead, cotton producers would have the option to enroll in either the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) or the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX). Both products are similar to the Group Risk Income Protection (GRIP) crop insurance policy and would cover county-wide losses. The products are designed to complement a producers’ individual insurance policy. Understanding the differences in payments from Title I programs as compared to potential payments from the STAX or SCO programs will be important for cotton producers. For this study, average direct payments and counter-cyclical payments over the 2002–2011 time period were compared to potential STAX and SCO payments for several Oklahoma and Texas counties. |
| Keywords: | STAX, SCO, Farm Bill, crop insurance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013–09–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156826&r=agr |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Food and Beverage Industry Agriculture - Food Security Poverty Reduction - Rural Poverty Reduction Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Regional Economic Development Industry |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:15988&r=agr |
| By: | Langemeier, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper examined the impact of a yield protection crop insurance product on cash rents and land values for a representative Indiana farm. The net return to land and management for scenarios that included and excluded crop insurance were very similar. Predicted cash rents and land values were not impacted by crop insurance indemnity payments. |
| Keywords: | Yield Protection Crop Insurance, Farm Management, Q12, |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156836&r=agr |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge and Information Systems Industry - Agricultural Industry Social Protections and Labor - Labor Policies Crops and Crop Management Systems Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Regional Economic Development Rural Development Agriculture |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:15989&r=agr |
| By: | Danilo C. ISRAEL (Philippine Institute for Development Studies); Roehlano M. BRIONES (Philippine Institute for Development Studies) |
| Abstract: | This study quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed the impacts of natural disasters (particularly typhoons, floods and droughts) on agriculture, food security and the natural resources and environment in the Philippines. It aimed to propose recommendations as to how best to respond to the impacts of natural disasters and to suggest further studies that can be undertaken. In general, the study found that: a) typhoons, floods and droughts have an insignificant impact on overall agricultural production at the national level, yet typhoons may have a significant negative impact on paddy rice production at the provincial level; b) typhoons, as exemplified by Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009, have a significant negative impact on the food security of the households in the affected areas; c) households have varying consumption and non-consumption strategies to cope with the impacts of typhoons; and d) the different impacts of typhoons, floods and droughts on the natural resources and environment have not been quantitatively assessed in detail, however available evidence suggests that these are also substantial. Based on its results and findings, the study recommends the following: a) Since typhoons may have significant negative impacts on rice production at the local level as opposed to the national level, assistance for rice farmers and the agriculture sector as a whole should be made more site-specific, zeroing in on the affected areas that actually need it; b) Those assisting affected households and areas in overcoming the resulting ill-effects of natural disasters should consider not only consumption strategies, such as the provision of emergency food aid, but also non-consumption strategies, such as the provision of post-disaster emergency employment; and c) While the available evidence suggests that the natural resources and environment sector is significantly affected by natural disasters, it is currently less considered, as attention is presently focused on agriculture. It may now be high time to provide concrete assistance to this sector, in particular the provision of defensive investments and rehabilitation expenditures to cope with these natural disasters. |
| Keywords: | Naturaldisasters, typhoons, floods, droughts, agriculture, food security, natural resources and the environment, Agricultural Multi-Market Model for Policy Evaluation (AMPLE) |
| JEL: | Q54 Q51 Q18 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2013-15&r=agr |
| By: | Zulauf, Carl R.; Demircan, Vecdi; Scnhitkey, Gary; Barnaby, Art; Ibendahl, Gregg; Herbel, Kevin |
| Abstract: | Characteristics of farm level yield and revenue loss that is systemic with yield and revenue loss at the county, state, and U.S. level are examined using farm yields from the Illinois and Kansas farm business management associations. The data begins with 1972. Share of yield and revenue loss systemic with the larger geographical areas declines as the level of loss increases, implying a greater share of larger losses is idiosyncratic to an individual farm. Farm loss systemic with the county generally is larger for Kansas than Illinois farms, which calls into question that county-based programs are less effective for plain states due to the larger size of their counties. Last, for the small set of farms that yields for a crop for all years of the analysis, the correlation between a farm and county yield/revenue deviations had limited ability to explain the share of a farm’s loss that is systemic with a county. This finding suggests that only by examining loss experiences for the farm and the county can the value of county risk management programs be ascertained. |
| Keywords: | systemic crop risk, crop insurance, farm level data, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:157812&r=agr |
| By: | Coble, Keith H.; Barnett, Barry J.; Riley, John Michael |
| Abstract: | Introduction: The context of row crop risk management continues to grow more complex. While the magnitude of price and yield risk changes over time, the development of sophisticated risk management tools and complex government policies may improve growers’ ability to manage risk -- if these instruments are used correctly. Conversely, these instruments may actually increase risk exposure if used incorrectly. Gone are the days when growers had access only to individual yield insurance and national triggered price programs. In 1996, revenue insurance became available for many crop growers. For most major crops, the acreage covered by revenue insurance now far exceeds that covered by yield insurance. The 2008 farm bill created the complex risk policies of ACRE and SURE (Ubilava et al.). Mitchell et al. argue that ACRE, which subsumed multiple revenue risks and integrated with other risk instruments, was difficult for growers to understand and difficult for county USDA officials to implement. Current farm bill proposals are now focused on various shallow loss programs such as Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC), Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) and Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) which layer risk protection on top of crop insurance. Thus, producers are likely to continue to be confronted with complex risk management tools which may overlap or leave gaps in risk protection. Further, the decision becomes even more complex when one considers the possibility of also using futures or forward contracts. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156958&r=agr |
| By: | Ogutu, Sylvester O.; Okello, Julius K.; Otieno, David J. |
| Abstract: | Information asymmetry has traditionally constrained smallholder farmers’ access to markets. Past studies indicate that it inhibits adoption of modern technologies that have the capacity to enhance productivity of smallholder farms. Hence, farm productivity and agricultural transformation has been stifled, leaving smallholder famers in grinding poverty. Improved smallholder farmers’ access to markets via the recent Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platforms could reverse this scenario. This study uses Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique to evaluate the impact of participation in an ICT-based market information service (MIS) project on farm input use and productivity in Kenya. It finds strong empirical evidence on the benefits of ICT use in market linkage. Specifically, it finds that participation in the ICT-based MIS project has positive and significant impact on the usage of improved seeds and fertilizers. It also improves land and labour productivity, but has negative and significant impact on the usage of hired and family labour. These findings have vital policy implications on the use of ICT tools as a development strategy. |
| Keywords: | ICT, Impact assessment, PSM, Market Access, Input Use, Productivity, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae13:157770&r=agr |
| By: | Hannah Pieters; Andrea Guariso; Anneleen Vandeplas |
| Abstract: | This report presents a first step of the conceptual framework which will be used in the FOODSECURE project to analyse the determinants of food and nutrition security. It draws on previous research and insights to develop a broad conceptual framework. The framework addresses drivers and determinants of food and nutrition security at multiple levels of aggregation. At the individual and household level, we make a distinction between drivers that affect the food and nutrition status, and drivers that affect the stability of this status. As gender is relevant in all dimensions of food and nutrition security at this level, we discuss it as a cross-cutting determinant. At the national and international level, food prices play a major role in food and nutrition security. We therefore discuss the drivers of food supply and demand, both in the short and long run. Finally, the framework describes the channels through which both micro- and macro-level policies are related to food and nutrition security. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fsc:fspubl:13&r=agr |
| By: | Singh, K.M.; Kumar, Abhay; Singh, R.K.P.; Kumar, Ujjwal |
| Abstract: | Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) provide opportunities for developing a variety of safe and cost effective, prophylactic, and curative medicines for a number of maladies. It is estimated that the primary health care of over 80 per cent of the world’s population still depends on plant based traditional medicines (WHO, 2002). Growing consciousness about health and side effects of modern medicines has again set the stage for innovation and use of herbal medicines. Evidence shows that the total domestic potential for crude drugs and oil extracts in India is worth Rs 3 billion, of which the requirements of over-the-counter products. Realizing the vast untapped potentials of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) and impediments in their development. Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), Patna has followed a systematic approach while taking MAPs for pilot testing. It made assessment about the local conditions and requirements, and demand for MAPs; strengthened capacity by traing various stakeholders; played role in supporting individuals and institutions; developed relevant literature in local language; emphasized on group approach by organizing the growers; encouraged cultivation through the organized sector with linking the unorganized farmers; and evolved a pricing mechanism with buy back arrangement with partner industry under public-private partnership(PPP). The present study tries to outline some of the steps taken to promote MAPs in Bihar for better income to the farmers. |
| Keywords: | Medicinal plants, Aromatic plants, ATMA, Patna, Farm income, Bihar |
| JEL: | O13 O32 O53 Q13 Q23 Q34 Q57 |
| Date: | 2013–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50571&r=agr |
| By: | Mooney, Daniel (University of WI); Barham, Brad (University of WI); Lian, Chang (University of WI); Ventura, Steve (University of WI); Hunt, Natalie (University of WI); Meehan, Tim (Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, University of WI); Jackson, Randy (University of WI) |
| Abstract: | This report describes initial findings from the 2011 Bioenergy Crop Production Study, a mail survey of active farmers in southwestern Wisconsin. Overall, the near-term prospects for widespread bioenergy crop production appear limited, primarily due to on-going commitments that these farms have to their integrated crop and livestock enterprises. However, spatial agglomerations or 'hotspots' of bioenergy crop production, and the lower logistical biomass collection costs that come with it, may arise in locations where attitudes towards bioenergy policy and environmental stewardship are favorable. |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:wisagr:569&r=agr |
| By: | Davis, Todd D.; Anderson, John D.; Young, Robert E. |
| Abstract: | A stochastic simulation model is used to simulate crop revenues net of farm policy and crop insurance costs. Certainty equivalent analysis is used to rank farm policy and crop insurance alternatives for varying levels of risk aversion. |
| Keywords: | farm management, risk management, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156753&r=agr |
| By: | Coble, Keith H.; Miller, Mary Frances; Rejesus, Roderick M.; Boyles, Ryan; Goodwin, Barry K.; Knight, Thomas O. |
| Abstract: | The US crop insurance program previously used a simple average of equally weighted historical loss cost data to serve as the backbone for estimating crop insurance premium rates. This article develops a procedure for weighting the historical loss cost experience based on longer time-series weather information and improve statistical validity of estimated premium rates. It was determined that the best weather data to account for weather probabilities in crop insurance premium rating is the National Climatic Data Center’s Time Bias Corrected Divisional Temperature-Precipitation-Drought Index data, also called the Climate Division Data. Using fractional logit and out-of-sample competitions, weather variables can be selected to construct an index that would allow proper assessment of the relative probability of weather events that drive production losses and to construct proper “weather weights” that can be applied when averaging historical loss cost data to calculate rates. A variable width binning approach with equal probabilities was determined as the best approach for classifying each year in the shorter historical loss cost data used for rating. When the weather weighting approach described above is applied, we find that for apples, barley, cotton, potatoes, rice, and spring/winter wheat, the weather weighted average loss costs at the national level tend to be smaller than the calculated average loss costs without weather weighting. However, for corn, cotton, sorghum, and soybeans, the weather weighted average loss costs at the national level tend to be larger. Around 51% of the counties have weather weighted average loss costs lower than the average loss costs without weather weighting |
| Keywords: | Crop Insurance, Premium Rating, Weather Weighting, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, G22, Q10, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156825&r=agr |
| By: | Alain McLaren; ; |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the asymmetries in price transmission from international to local markets. We expect the presence of large intermediaries in agricultural markets to lead to a stronger price transmission when international prices decline than when they rise. The empirical evidence confirms the presence of asymmetric price transmission consistent with the presence of large intermediaries with monopsony power. |
| Keywords: | Asymmetric price transmission, agricultural markets |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gen:geneem:13102&r=agr |
| By: | Lubungu, Mary; Chapoto, Antony; Tembo, Gelson |
| Abstract: | This study uses longitudinal household data collected in 2001, 2004, and 2008 to identify factors that influence Zambian smallholder farmers' participation in livestock markets. Although livestock ownership increased during the study period, not all provinces experienced the upward trend. While livestock populations increased in Southern and Central Provinces, they remained stagnant in Eastern, North western and Lusaka Provinces and reduced in Western Province. Not only has herd size remained stagnant over the years, but the level of participation of smallholder farmers in the livestock markets has also remained largely the same. Crop commercialization and participation in off-farm activities reduces the likelihood of participation in cattle markets but not in the markets for small livestock. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:157783&r=agr |
| By: | Nabil Chaherli; John Nash |
| Keywords: | Food and Beverage Industry International Economics and Trade - Free Trade Economic Theory and Research Transport Economics Policy and Planning Environmental Economics and Policies Industry Macroeconomics and Economic Growth Environment Transport |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:16048&r=agr |
| By: | Gladman Thondhlana and Edwin Muchapondwa |
| Abstract: | This paper examines dependence on environmental resources and impacts on household welfare among the indigenous San and Mier rural communities neighbouring Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the arid Kalahari region, South Africa. Data on the various household income types, including environmental income, were collected through a structured survey of 200 households. Environmental income constituted 20% of total income, indicating a substantial dependence on environmental resources. The poorest income quintile had the highest environmental income share (31%), though absolute income from environmental resources increased with total income. Analysis of household income with and without environmental income shows that environmental resources shield households, especially the low-income ones, from poverty. Further, Gini-coefficient analyses revealed an important income inequality reduction potential of environmental resources among households. Given the current proposal to grant local communities access to environmental resources inside the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, our results predict household welfare improvements from such a proposal. However, the findings underscore the need to sustainably manage environmental resources (access and extraction) inside and outside the park to balance ecological and socio-economic needs. |
| Keywords: | Kalahari drylands, environmental resources, indigenous people, dependence, income diversification, household welfare |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:370&r=agr |
| By: | Barry DESKER; Mely CABALLERO-ANTHONY; Paul TENG (Rajaratnam University of International Studies; Nanyang Technological University) |
| Abstract: | Food security is fundamental to human security and sustainable development. As ASEAN moves towards an integrated community of caring societies in 2015 and beyond, we argue that food security should be an integral part of the ASEAN community building agenda and deserves more attention than it currently has been in the AEC Blueprint. More importantly, ASEAN needs to be infused with a new thinking on food security that is responsive to emerging global threats and challenges. This paper provides a new framework for ASEAN food security by focusing on a regional approach as envisioned in the AEC Jakarta Framework project. |
| Keywords: | Food security, regional framework, ASEAN Economic Community 2015, sustainable development, human security |
| JEL: | O20 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2013-20&r=agr |
| By: | David McEvoy; Michael Jones; Michael McKee; John Talberth |
| Abstract: | Non-industrial private forestland owners (NIPFs) manage the majority of US forestland. But land use conversion is highest amongst this group, in part due to the relative paucity of income earned from active forest management relative to sale of land to developers. Cooperative forest management agreements can help reduce this differential, but participation remains low. If structured well, these agreements can provide opportunities for long term payments from sales of timber and ecosystem services at levels sufficient to reduce the temptation to convert. In this paper we investigate various means of encouraging meaningful participation in cooperative agreements for forests that emphasize conservation. We report on the results obtained through a series of laboratory market experiments in which the participants play the role of NIPFs and make resource allocation decisions facing real financial incentives. Our results shed light on the relative factors that affect the success of these agreements. In particular, we find that when agreements include contribution thresholds (with money back guarantees) coupled with relatively long contract lengths, groups are able to preserve a significant fraction of forested lands through conservation agreements. Key Words: conservation agreement, participation, economic laboratory experiment |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apl:wpaper:13-23&r=agr |
| By: | Steven Nafziger (Department of Economics, Williams College) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the local political economy of early agronomic efforts in Tsarist Russia by undertaking a two-part analysis of the role of the zemstvo – a 19th century institution of local self-government – in improving local agricultural conditions. First, we investigate the agronomic activities of various levels of government in Russia over the last fifty years of the Tsarist era. After discussing the relatively limited role played by the central ministries and peasant institutions of self-government, we follow Nafziger (2011) in undertaking a qualitative and cross-district empirical analysis of how variation in economic conditions and the political structure of the zemstvo assemblies may have motivated zemstvo expenditures on agriculture. This exercise finds evidence suggesting that the peasantry – the population most likely affected by agronomic efforts – had an influence on the policies of the zemstvo, despite rarely holding majority positions in the assemblies. To explore the mechanisms underlying these results, we turn to a case study of agricultural development and zemstvo policies in Nizhnii Novgorod province. We draw on archival records, contemporary publications, and newspaper accounts to document these factors, both at the provincial level and for one relatively non-agricultural district (Semenov). Our findings suggest that the policy preferences of the local elites and of leaders of the executive committees of the institution likely mattered more than the composition of the zemstvo assembly for the resulting outcomes. By shedding light on the political mechanisms behind local public support for agronomic efforts, this chapter makes an initial step towards a fuller account of the early stages of Russia’s agrarian transformation. |
| Keywords: | Russia, agronomy, political economy, agriculture |
| JEL: | N33 N43 N53 O13 H41 H72 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wil:wileco:2013-15&r=agr |
| By: | Miao, Ruiqing; Khanna, Madhu |
| Abstract: | This study compares the efficiency of three policy instruments (i.e., crop insurance, establishment cost share, and biomass price subsidy) in promoting energy crop production. The efficiency is measured by energy crop acreage increased due to the policy instrument for a given amount of government expenditure supporting the instrument. Based on a unique dataset of county-level miscanthus yield over 1979-2010 across the rainfed region of the United States, our results show that if there is no credit constraint in financing establishment costs then crop insurance is most efficient and biomass price subsidy is least efficient among the three policy instruments. If there is credit constraint in financing establishment costs, however, then crop insurance is more (respectively, less) efficient than establishment cost share for small (respectively, large) expenditure. Geographical distributions of energy crop acreage under different policy instruments are studied as well. |
| Keywords: | crop insurance, energy crops, establishment costs, miscanthus, yield, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q15, Q16, Q28, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeaci:156936&r=agr |
| By: | Sophie van Huellen (Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK) |
| Abstract: | The close relationship between commodity future and cash prices is critical for the effectiveness of risk management and the functioning of price discovery. However, in recent years, commodity futures prices, across the board, have appeared increasingly detached from prices on physical markets. This paper argues that while various factors, identified in previous literature, which introduced limits to arbitrage have facilitated non-convergence, the actual extent of non-convergence in these markets is caused by essential differences in the mechanisms of price formation on physical and derivative markets. With reference to the particular case of the CBOT wheat market, the paper shows that the size of the spread between futures and cash prices can be theoretically and empirically linked to the increasing inflow of financial investment into commodity futures markets. |
| Keywords: | commodity futures, commodity price formation, financialisation, nonconvergence |
| JEL: | D82 D84 G13 G14 Q11 Q14 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soa:wpaper:185&r=agr |
| By: | Sann VATHANA (Council for Agrictultural and Rural Development, Social Protection Coordination Unit, Cambodia (CARD-SPCU)); Sothea OUM (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East-Asia (ERIA)); Ponhrith KAN (CARD-SPCU); Colas CHERVIER (CARD-SPCU) |
| Abstract: | The pattern of risks faced by the poor and vulnerable in rural areas of Cambodia, as a consequence of natural disaster, is posing an increasing threat to their livelihoods. One third of the past three years has been taken up either with flooding or with drought, and the drought periods were more prolonged than the floods. The damage caused by flood and drought was comparable, although the flood of 2011 was the most extensive of the disasters. This paper presents impacts of disasters on household welfare and the linking of social protection interventions to address the entitlement failure of poor and vulnerable people suffering from the impacts of flood and drought. There is a strong need at the policy level to design social protection interventions to emphasize ex-ante instruments rather than the ex post response to natural disasters as focusing on emergency assistance and relief. Cash transfers programs provide direct assistance in the form of cash to the poor. Ex-ante cash transfer programs can play a crucial role in encouraging poor households to invest in business rather than spending on food. Microfinance schemes can also help ex-ante income diversification that can bolster households against widespread natural disasters. |
| Keywords: | Natural disaster, Entitlement failure |
| JEL: | Q54 I31 H55 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2013-10&r=agr |
| By: | Linda Fulponi; Alejandra Engler |
| Abstract: | This report analyses the impact of Chile’s free trade agreements (FTAs) on fresh fruit exports. It finds that the FTAs have been important instruments for providing increased market access for Chilean products based on both an econometric analysis and structured surveys of exporters. While the impacts on profits were not considered to very significant according to exporters, the agreements are considered necessary to maintain a level playing field with Chile’s competitors. Both SAG, Chile’s plant and animal health authority, and Pro-Chile, Chile’s export promotion agency, were viewed as essential to promoting Chile’s reputation as an exporter of quality products. Interviews with trade associations covering a wide range of export products, found that while the FTAs provided entry points into markets, actual market access did not always benefit all sectors equally. |
| Keywords: | free trade agreements, agricultural trade impacts, fruit exports, exporter surveys and tariff concessions |
| Date: | 2013–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:64-en&r=agr |
| By: | Ariun Ishdorj; Mary Kay Crepinsek; Helen H. Jensen |
| Keywords: | Censoring, Endogeneity, Food Assistance, Fruits and Vegetables, National School Lunch Program |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| Date: | 2013–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7906&r=agr |
| By: | Glauben, Thomas; Djuric, Ivan; Götz, Linde; Koester, Ulrich; Loy, Jens-Peter; Páll, Zsombor; Perekhozhuk, Oleksandr; Prehn, Sören; Renner, Swetlana |
| Abstract: | Substantial danger exists that politically prescribed market interventions, designed to counter a supposed failure of the markets, will leave markets functioning worse rather than better. This is particularly true of Eastern European transition countries, where institutional regulations function only to a limited extent. Based on the findings of a variety of empirical studies that examine how Eastern European grain, dairy and meat markets are functioning, this policy brief strongly advocates restraint in the introduction of measures to regulate agricultural markets. Such regulations have high macroeconomic costs and may work counter to their objectives, which are designed to have popular appeal. -- |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamopb:11e&r=agr |
| By: | Hammarlund, Cecilia (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The price of fish depends on quality attributes such as size and freshness. In turn, quality attributes are related to fishery management. This article presents a hedonic analysis where attribute prices of size and quality ratings are estimated for the Swedish Baltic Cod Fishery. Using information from 5307 landing days, hedonic inverse demand functions are estimated with a random coefficient model. Results show that there are price premiums for larger sizes of cod and for cod with the highest quality rating. Results also show that own- quantity effects and cross-quantity effects are negative for most attributes. Thus, there is indication that the quality composition of landed fish affect the prices of quality attributes and that the management of a fish stock that changes the quantity of attributes will also change the prices of fish. |
| Keywords: | Attribute prices; Hedonic inverse demand; Baltic Cod fishery |
| JEL: | D21 Q22 |
| Date: | 2013–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2013_034&r=agr |